MataróThe little ones climb into the freezer that Abdel has at the entrance to his grocery store in the Rocafonda neighborhood of Mataró, right in front of the soccer field. It’s six in the afternoon and the bustle of boys and girls is constant. There are training sessions on the field. At the Abdel’s Panadería Arábica, on the other hand, they go there to look for ice cream cones, treats or sweets, among other products. A photograph is printed on the sign above his establishment. It is Lamine Yamal, his nephew, the son of his brother Mounir. “I’ve had the oven for five years and the photo on the sign has been there since day one.” He says it with pride, but also with great serenity. “We are very happy, but he is very young. We don’t want to talk much. Little by little.” Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana is only 16 years old, born last July, but he has already become the debutant and the youngest goalscorer in the entire history of the Spanish national team and has started three matches as a starter for Barça.
The fact that he has chosen to play with Spain and not with Morocco, his father’s native country, has generated some debate in the neighborhood of Rocafonda, one of the smallest in Mataró in terms of area but with a high population density: 15,000 inhabitants , of which around 3,000 are under 18 years of age. More than 50% of the residents come from other countries, especially Morocco. “He was born here. He played in the lower categories of Spain. There are those who don’t understand that he chose to play with the Spanish national team, but you can’t always make everyone happy,” explains his uncle, who keeps the shirt Barça official that his nephew showed off against Cadiz, on the second day of the League.
Abdel’s calmness contrasts with that of his brother Mounir, father of the young Barcelona star. “He gets a little nervous more easily,” some neighbors say. During the last election campaign, some images of him went viral in which he was seen fighting with the various members of a Vox tent in Mataró, among whom was the mayoral candidate of this formation far right, Mónica Lora. The court of inquiry number 3 of the Maresmen capital has sentenced Mounir to pay a fine of 546 euros.
The paternal origins of Lamine Yamal in Rocafonda
The origins of Lamine Yamal in Rocafonda can be explained by the fact that his paternal grandmother settled there more than 30 years ago. He, despite being born in Esplugues, spent much of his childhood between Mataró and the neighborhood of la Torreta, in La Roca del Vallès, where his mother Sheila went to live and work after separating from Mounir. In fact, he took his first steps in a federated football club precisely at La Torreta. In this humble club where Isidre Gil soon stood out, and a familiar sight of the area, Barça informed. At the age of six, in January 2014, he signed for the Barcelona team and it didn’t take him long to go live in La Masia, where he currently resides. But Lamine Yamal still retains great pride in the neighborhood of his paternal family. So much so that he celebrates his goals by drawing with his fingers the number 304, the last three digits of the postal code of Rocafonda (08304).
This gesture has already become a symbol for a neighborhood that, while it was used to being in the media for issues related to crime, now sees how its name is not only associated with negative connotations. A fact that Rocío Escandell, president of the Association of Residents of Rocafonda, who has lived in the neighborhood for 32 years, celebrates. “Rocafonda is humble and welcoming. It is a very diverse, multicultural neighborhood. With people who are looking to get ahead. And the case of Lamine Yamal, although it is exceptional, is a positive message for children in the sense that, despite what it seems who have little chance, they can also, so to speak, succeed”. Escandell admits that there have been certain episodes of crime – related to drug trafficking or confrontations with the Urban Police – but he regrets that this stigmatizes a neighborhood where “many neighbors collaborate and help each other to make a better neighborhood.”
The president of the Neighborhood Association attends the ARA from the stands of the CF Rocafonda field, where her daughter Abril trains in one of the 19 teams of a club with around 270 registered members. Agustí Vázquez, who has also lived in the neighborhood all his life (since the age of 12, and is now 40), presides over the club with the lowest quotas in Mataró and in all of Maresme. “We understand the characteristics of the neighborhood, there is a very high percentage of families with few resources. The vast majority of the boys and girls in our club are from families who have come from outside. We try to make payment easier and adjust the quotas,” he explains Vázquez, who before being president of CF Rocafonda was a player, coach and coordinator of the club. “There are people with real problems of poverty in the neighborhood and sport is another tool to try to help in a day-to-day life that can sometimes be complicated. In this sense, the impact of Lamine Yamal helps.”
Lamine Yamal never got to play in this club, although he did run over the blazing grass of the CF Rocanfonda field, like many other boys and girls who, although they come from playing in the street, also enter and they leave the premises to meet their friends and family. A little further up, between the stadium and a car depot, there is a concrete track where Lamine Yamal used to play as a child. Behind one of the goals, a mural with bold and striking letters: Rocafonda.
2023-09-14 05:40:12
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